


Secret Santa

by Hyx_Sydin



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M, SGA Secret Santa 2014
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-01
Updated: 2015-01-01
Packaged: 2018-03-04 18:24:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3080789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hyx_Sydin/pseuds/Hyx_Sydin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Secret Santa comes to Atlantis!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Secret Santa

**Author's Note:**

  * For [melagan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/melagan/gifts).



> My SGA Secret Santa 2014 fic for melagan who asked for: _John/Rodney. Any rating. Happy Ending. I love the guys being guys._
> 
> It is unbetaed, so therefore any errors are my own.

Miko stood before the closed door, clutching the clipboard to her chest as she tried to calm her breathing; all the while reminding herself that she had one last person to do before she could hand over to the person doing the support staff, and that the longer she took, the less time they had. After taking a fortifying breath and one last glance at the name listed at the top of the page: **Doctor Rodney McKay – Chief Science Officer** , she swiped her hand over the crystal to open the door. Inside was not only her most esteemed leader hard at work but to her horror; lounging in one of the lab’s stools, feet propped up onto a workbench while he read, was the revered (and quite handsome) military commander. 

She stood rooted to the spot as the little speech she had prepared fled her mind; staring at Major John Sheppard’s unruly (and quite captivating - _Sarah says he doesn’t use anything in it so it’s probably so so so soft, like a kitten’s fur_ ) head of hair. The hair was moving now, turning away from her, as the Major looked her way; when he recognised her, his lips softened into a small smile before the opened to say something to her. _Oh! Major John Sheppard, the man prepared to give up his own life so that she may live, was speaking to her!_ A moment or two after he had spoken his face scrunched up in confusion as he sat up; dropping his feet to the floor and turning his whole body to face her, it was then that Doctor Rodney McKay turned to look at her intensely.

The blush which had covered her face on discovering the presence of Major John Sheppard in the lab darkened and spread under the gaze of her honoured leader. His voice demanding to know why she had disturbed his precious work - _she would have to offer up some of the coffee she had bartered for, in the hopes of appeasing the brilliant (and quite inspiring) Doctor Rodney McKay_ \- snapped her out of her nervous panic, and she quickly darted to his side and offered up the bag in her hand as she babbled the explanation to him. 

Once she was done, Doctor Rodney McKay mumbled something about incompetent fools - _she had to agree; if they had had any sense they would have had the honourable and brave Doctor Rodney McKay draw a name first, followed of course by the valiant and selfless Major John Sheppard_ \- before he spoke to her directly, “English?”

“Oh,” she breathed as her blush returned and she dropped her eyes in embarrassment; in her nervous excitement she had reverted to her home language. Bowing forward as she offered up the bag again, she made sure to speak in English as she said, “Doctor Rodney McKay. Please choose one; the person whose name you select from the bag will have the great pleasure of receiving a gift from you this Christmas.”

“What?” he demanded, leaving her confused as to his meaning, and when he spoke again his voice was turned away, “Sheppard, what is she talking about?”

She could hear a chuckle coming from Major John Sheppard’s direction and the sound of movement, and then his voice from her right side, “You have to take a name for Secret Santa McKay.”

“But it’s only October!” Doctor Rodney McKay exclaimed emphatically; she kept her eyes respectfully turned downward until she felt a pressure on the bag in her hands, a quick glance showed Major John Sheppard’s hand coming out with a piece of paper held between two fingers.

“There,” he said, and she watched as he placed it into Doctor Rodney McKay’s hand, “now you have one.” Turning towards her as she straightened, he smiled the same smile as before and thanked her. She bobbed her head as the blush returned, stole a glance at Doctor Rodney McKay looking at the piece of paper in awe, ticked next to the Chief Science Officer’s name and fled the lab. 

Out in the passage with the door closed behind her she paused; took a deep calming breath, giggled at the happy feeling in her chest, thanked her ancestors for giving her the opportunity to work for two such awe-inspiring men, and then happily bounced down the passage to turn over the clipboard and bag of names.

\---

Rodney sat staring at the piece of paper in his hand as if it were citrus.

“Elizabeth thought it would be a good idea,” John said shrugging as he made his way back to his seat and picked up his comic.

“But it’s **October** ,” the scientist said in a strained voice still staring, “and we’re in another **galaxy!** ”

“She thinks it’ll be good for morale,” John said shrugging, “you were in the meetings McKay; sitting right next to me, if I remember correctly!”

“Obviously not paying attention,” the other man stated before slowly unfolding the paper and glancing inside. “Huh!”

John couldn’t help but ask, “So, who’d you get?” 

Rodney’s head snapped up and he peered at John, “Why? Who did you get?”

“A marine,” he said, shrugging again as he tried to appear casual, “Sanderson.”

Rodney scoffed, “Let him spend a week at your side calling you John, pet him on the head whenever there are other marines in the area, and allow him to touch your gun.”

John couldn’t help the grin that spread over his face as he cheekily responded, “Sanderson is a woman.”

This time the scientist snorted, “Even easier; just smile at her and maybe use her name when you speak to her.”

“Nah,” he said, propping his feet up onto the workbench, “I was thinking of letting her ‘touch’ my gun.” 

“How original John,” Rodney said rolling his eyes, but the colour high on his cheeks and the fisting of his hands gave him away. “Just be sure to clean it properly afterwards, I wouldn’t want to catch anything.”

John chuckled as he opened up his comic to continue reading, remembering his unanswered question a page later. “Hey McKay,” he called, and when the scientist was looking at him and not at one of the laptops open in front of him he asked, “So who’d you get?”

Rodney tilted his head to the side and peered at him, “What?” He nodded at the piece of paper which lie next to the scientist’s hand, and saw understanding clear Rodney’s face. “Oh, Doctor Donna Coleman, an engineer or something,” he said as he glanced down at it.

John nodded although he had no idea who she was or what she might possibly look like, he did however know that she was one of Rodney’s underlings. “You could try being nice to her,” he said smiling, “or better yet, you could give her one of your many unfinished projects.”

“Ha ha laugh it up fly boy, we can’t all sit around whole day and read comics, some of us have work to do; important work! Things that only I can do because I know how and the rest of them are useless idiots we fill the halls with; the Czech though, he’s a little more competent than the others and-”

John knew a long drawn out explanation on why Rodney had to do everything when he heard one, and was quick to interrupt. “So is Zelenka working on my puddlejumper?”

Rodney’s mouth snapped shut for a moment before he was speaking again, “Your puddlejumper?”

“Yeah, you said you were going to modify one of them for me? But you’ve been busy with whatever that is,” he said waving his hand at the three open laptops and two tablets on the workbench before Rodney.

“Oh . . . that,” he said as he glanced down at the piece of paper again, “I’d completely forgotten…”

John was quick to say, “Hey now, no letting Doctor Coleman, **an engineer or something** , work on my jumper.”

The door opened then and Elizabeth walked in; immediately John tossed the comic in his hand into the darkest corner under the workbench he was sitting next to and was glad he had dropped his feet earlier. “Oh good, you are here already John…”

\---

The Daedalus stopped by a few weeks later, stayed for two weeks to ensure their procurement officer had received everyone’s requests, then left again with the promise of returning in about a month’s time with everyone’s shopping. Life continued on in Atlantis, but now there was an air of excitement as everyone prepared for Christmas.

John tried to avoid all the overly cheerful people who wanted to share their every Christmas memory with him, he did not have many good ones himself, by hiding out in the labs with Rodney but the scientist never seemed to be there. John asked him about it while they were on a mission but all he had received as an explanation was that Rodney was **busy**. Instead he spent his time either hidden away somewhere in the city going over the details of his gift or holed up in his office ignoring his paperwork as he came up with plans to find McKay.

Rodney avoided everyone by working on his gift in a section of the city which was supposed to be off limits, only surfacing for meetings and missions.

\---

John did not receive a gift on Christmas, which disappointed him more than he thought it would. 

Rodney was handed his gift by the Asian girl, Japanese according to the flag on her jacket, it was an envelope and inside was a thick stack of paper on which some kind of mathematical equations were printed. There was no indication of who his gift had come from, which frustrated him, and hoping for a clue amongst the equations, he set to work on them.

John was attempting to read _War and Peace_ when Rodney came bursting through his door waving a stack of paper in the air shouting, “Is this some kind of joke? **Hey Rodney, let’s go on a three day recon mission tomorrow! Oh and Merry Christmas, Major John Sheppard.** ”

John smiled slowly; he knew McKay would easily be able to solve his little puzzle and had not been disappointed. “No joke Rodney,” he said as he set his book aside and sat up, “Just the two of us, alone in the jumper for three whole days. You can call me John if you want to, I’ll definitely pat you on the head, and **maybe** I’ll let you touch my gun.”

“Oh my god you are ridiculous,” Rodney exclaimed as he tossed the pages at John, but there was a blush high on his cheeks and his pupils had dilated. 

“Come on Rodney,” John said prowling up to the other man and wrapped his arms around him. “You gotta admit it’s a great gift.”

The scientist grumbled even as he returned the hug, “You could give me a preview now of what I’m getting tomorrow?”

John chuckled as he nosed at one of Rodney’s ears, “Sure thing Rodney...”

\---

Rodney was already in the jumper by the time John got there, and as he made his way into the cockpit Rodney dialled out. “Hey,” he protested as he hurried to take his seat, “who is the pilot here?”

“It’s the co-pilot’s,” and here Rodney paused to point at himself meaningfully, “job to do the dialling.”

By that time the jumper was paused before the active gate awaiting the go ahead from Flight, there was a nagging feeling in the back of John’s head that said the jumper didn’t feel right, but since it was the one his team always used he ignored it and slowly urged it forward once they had received permission.

Once in outer space the HUD lit up with ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS JOHN’ and beside him Rodney was practically vibrating with excitement as he said, “Go on, give her some gas.”

John immediately increased the speed and was surprised when the little ship shot forward and belts snapped around his front; the jumper immediately came to a stop as he stared down at them, “Seat belts?”

“Just fly her for a little,” Rodney said, his mouth still spread into a grin, “you’ll know soon enough.”

John glanced at the other man, then down at the belts which held him secure to his seat, a grin slowly spreading across his own face as he once again urged the ship to move. As they flew, he could tell that the inertial dampeners had been dialled down, the ship moved more easily and if he had to guess – the HUD lit up with some of the jumper’s new stats, proving that he was correct; the ship was lighter which was why she was faster and handled better.

“This is what you’ve been doing?” he asked of Rodney, who looked a little green so he eased slowed down a little.

“Don’t do that,” the scientist snapped, “how am I supposed to determine top speed if you don’t push her. And yes,” he continued distractedly as he tapped at the tablet on his lap, “I commandeered one of the sub-level labs, had the puddlejumper disassembled and key parts brought down to me and then worked on **modifying** her. I’m just grateful they decided to start this Secret Santa nonsense in October; gave me ample time to get everything done, if I gave up...” Rodney mumbled on under his breath as he continued to monitor the jumper.

“Hey,” John called, handing over a piece of paper.

Rodney frowned at him as he took it, darted an assessing glance at his tablet’s screen and then read the note, “One is less than three... is that the union, from set theory? Or the unitary group?”

John grinned amused, “It’s not mathematics Rodney.”

“Oh,” the scientist said looking up at him, “Is it uranium, the unified atomic mass unit, the ultraviolet magnitude measurement of the UBV photometric system, **the first opera in the Klingon language???** ”

“Wait, what,” John asked rhetorically, filing away the mention of Klingon opera for later before saying on a sigh, “It’s just a letter Rodney; the letter ‘U’.”

“But that makes no sense!” the other man cried out. 

“It’s not a ‘1’ either, it’s an ‘I’,” John said hoping that with his help Rodney would understand.

“But,” and then he went back to scrutinising the note, tilting his head to the side as he rotated it, eyes narrowed as he tried to decipher the message. “Oh!” Rodney finally exclaims before turning to glare at him, “How old are you?!” 

John’s not sure what to say to that or how he feels about Rodney’s reaction to his ‘confession’, the unexpected words “Stop the jumper” has him doing just that.

“You are completely ridiculous,” Rodney says as he has the jumper release their belts, “and I love you too.”

John finds himself with a lapful of scientist and has the foresight to cloak the jumper before things become too heated.

**Author's Note:**

> I welcome all comments and kudos with hugs <3 thanks for the read!


End file.
